We're a husband and wife design team located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. We draw inspiration from nature around us, Colonial Craftsmanship, and Danish Modern/MCM influences to create a colorful fusion we call Virginia Modern.

Monday, January 16, 2012

TABLEWARE: FROM MID CENTURY TO MODERN

Let's set the table! Tableware : from mid century to modern

Braxton and I always try to eat in locally owned restaurants. Even when we travel I try to research locally owned restaurants before hand, or we just ask the advice of a resident of the area. We've found some fantastic restaurants around Virginia (Briar Patch in Sweet Briar I'm looking at you!). We've found locally owned restaurants are usually more veggie friendly, better priced, and there's always something we've never tried before.

This past weekend we traveled to Danville Va. to visit an antique store we had head about (more on our finds later in the week), and I forgot to research places to stop for lunch. My bad.So there we were, hungry and cranky and the gps really really wanted us to eat in a mid priced chain restaurant. The first one we came to is famous for it's white square plates and it's salad bar...and we knew from the last time we had eaten at this chain that they had a veggie burger on the menu...so we reluctantly pulled in. On the way to our seats I eyed the salad bar, to my surprise it looked pretty dang pristine, no doubt due to the fact that there were no other customers.Once seated, we checked out the menu....no veggie burger!, in fact this was the least vegetarian friendly menu on the planet. Seriously, I have a real aversion to salad bars and buffets...I'd rather use a public restroom, you have no idea, but we could either leave, or risk our lives at the bar. Salad it was.

We hurried to grab our plates, people were actually coming in to eat and they might, you know, breathe in the general direction of the salad bar! Act fast.I was first in line, and began to assemble what I considered a really good looking salad...mostly green (lettuce, spinach, peppers), red tomatoes, and orange carrots....pretty! I chose the balsamic dressing knowing the color would go nicely with my creation.

I sat at the table waiting for Braxton and OMG, he assembled a masterpiece! Cheese, croutons, and not one but two dressings...the man is nothing short of brilliant. He chose the balsamic and the french dressings, artfully drizzling each one over half of the salad on the diagonal! Piet Mondrian was not laughing (nerdy art joke there).

So, before the fork even hit the salad I said to Braxton..."you know white plates really make a difference...look how great the salads look against the stark white". Then we ate.The point is (if anyone is still with me) the color of your tableware is important for creating a pleasing looking plate. I couldn't stop thinking about it all weekend...thus this weeks muse...tableware!

Let's talk about colorful modern tableware. I love fiesta ware!

Let's talk about astrays. No, we don't smoke but we have a few great mid century ashtrays.

Let's talk about glassware....we actually have this set.

We also have this set of Ben Seibel Autumn Harvest dinnerware.

I love that so many mid century cups and bowls had this fabulous blue glaze on the inside.

This is early Eva Zeisel...remember her from last week?

Anyone collect holiday plates?

Love the atomic pattern.

Let's talk dinnerware, glassware, bar ware...everything! How many of you chose wedding china when you got married, do you ever use it? Would you choose the same pattern again? Let's talk.

1 comment:

White dishes are the "little black dress" of tablesettings. I didn't pick china when we got married, ( I did get some pewter plates that I still have and use) - however, I picked a china pattern 10 years later when we bought our first house....and 26 years later, I still love the pattern. It's discontinued now.